Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage

Happy 63nrd Birthday, Peace Symbol!

welcome, well come to day 23 of a season of peace on this twenty-first day of free at last february, the sixty-third birthday of the peace symbol and our day to celebrate the astonishing light of being one this beautiful day of gathering the quintessence as ambassadors of love and light with the sun shining on the energy of  freedom… on a somber note, it is the fifty-sixth anniversary of Malcolm X’s assassination…

now, back to the peace sign…

 “Children of today easily identify it. They may not know its original meaning, but they know it stands for good things – be nice to friends, be kind to animals, no fighting. This is a marvelous achievement for Gerald Holtom’s simple design. Peoples around the world have marched with it, worn it, displayed it during combat, held it high on banners, and been arrested in its name. Ask any man, woman or child, ‘What one thing would everyone in the world want more than anything else?’ The answer would surely be world peace.’”

~ Ken Kolsbun, Peace: The Biography of a Symbol ~

on this day of walking into the unknown through a field of  impermanence, a day when peace is so called for, it is a beautiful synchrony that it’s the re-birthday of peace…

Gerald Holtom, an artist and conscientious objector, created the Peace Symbol on February 21,1958. According to Christopher Driver, author of The Disarmers: A Study in Protest, Holtom created the design and then brought it to an organizer of a local British peace group. After several revisions, it was unveiled publicly on Good Friday of that year, by anti-nuclear demonstrators — the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) — who marched 50 miles from London’s Trafalgar Square to the weapons factory at Aldermaston. It was the first Ban-the-Bomb March.

When Gerald Holtom sat down at his drawing board sixty-three years ago, he was in almost total despair. He later told the editor of Peace News: ‘I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad. I formalized the drawing into a line and put a circle round it symbolizing Earth.”

Welcome “International Peace Symbol Day.”  May we hoist peace everywhere waving the remedy for despair…  Peace Out!

THE INNER IS FOUNDATION OF THE OUTER
THE STILL IS MASTER OF THE RESTLESS
THE SAGE TRAVELS ALL DAY
YET NEVER LEAVES HIS INNER TREASURE.

~Lao Tzu ~

welcome, welcome to day 22 of a season of peace, on this 20th day of free at last february so that we have a day pulsing at the frequency of 222, a day of grace, wisdom, clarity and a day also known as world social justice day – may it be so, may we roll up our sleeves, come home to our heart, set our eyes within and in thought, word and deed be in balance with all our relatives… and, it’s another beautiful day of gathering the quintessence as ambassadors of love and light who vaya con gaia en paz with the sun shining through the clouds on the liberating energy of  freedom…

as we come home to the heart setting our eyes within connecting with the inner treasure in the core of our being, may we feel the nourishment in this true refuge and express it by speaking and singing from the core of our being and bringing the wonder back…

and, as we saunter along the pathless path embracing the inner treasure, may we also re-member the old rabbinical tale of the angel of friendship which describes another trustworthy source of nourishment in this moment of sheltering… when 2 or more relatives gather in sacred space, another presence is generated – an angel (messenger) of friendship who sings the frequency of love into the celestial spheres uplifting all relatives…

in this moment, our one heart’s a tree providing belonging space for you, for me to sing our soul song of mystery conducted by the angel of amity… many voices, one frequency… multiversed universiddhi…  shanti, shanti, shantihi…

welcome to day 21 of a season of peace, a day i need to dive so deeply into the earth and sky and ocean of our creative cosmic being to be the peace and love we are in our core while in this moment of ebb tide re-membering birth is often messy and painful as we let go of what no longer serves to revolve/revolute into a more sustainable way…

on this day in 1942, the usa decided to arrest and imprison all citizens of Japanese ancestry – even as little as 1/16  percent and including orphaned infants – all of these beings were subject to mass incarceration with over 130,000 Japanese Americans – many full citizens and the children of citizens – forcibly relocated from their West Coast homes during the spring of 1942 and jailed for up to three years without a trial…

on this day of peace and re-membrance of the inhumane ways we act when fear leads us to reacting blindly, i must dig deep singing psalm 15 again and again…

who can be trusted with power,
and who may act in your place?
Those with a passion for justice,
who speak the truth from their hearts;
who have let go of selfish interests
and grown beyond their own lives;
who see the wretched as their family
and the poor as their flesh and blood.
They alone are impartial
and worthy of the people’s trust.
Their compassion lights up the whole earth,
and their kindness endures forever.

breathing in peace and compassion, join with me in being the world we all want… for me, it is a world of peace and harmony and wisdom and generosity built on justice and balance guided by love and compassion surrendered into great mystery,,,

~

as we come alive in this wild and precious moment

dreaming a new world on the way,

let us breathe in deeply our dreams coming full circle

as dancing stars give birth today…

dreaming a new world on the way,

we hear her whispering down under the sea

as dancing stars give birth today

creating sacred space for flowing beauty…

we hear her whispering down under the sea,

now is the moment for the dream to fully be

creating sacred space for flowing beauty

from our one heart soaring into rainbow mystery…

as we come alive in this wild moment,

let us breathe in deeply our dreams coming full circle

now is the moment for the dream to fully be

with our one heart soaring into rainbow mystery…

birthing a world where we live and let be, all of us singing in harmony…

Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy… they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us…

~ Harper Lee ~

welcome, well come to day 20 of a season of peace, the seventh day of the tibetan fifteen days of miracles and it’s another beautiful day of gathering the quintessence, ambassadors of love and light with the sun shining on the energy of  freedom…

i awaken today with a strange dream lingering and re-member five years ago on this day through the invisible web connecting us all, death was foreshadowed with a cold wind blowing through, a day when i could not get warm much like a day almost ten years ago when i coded with septic shock feeling my blood turn to ice… as the cold wind of death blows through once again today and i re-member the foreshadowing of death was for Harper Lee, who died unexpectedly the next day, i want to pay tribute to her and her archetypal story of justice, innocence, love and purity, a story that i read at eight years old, a story that resonated so deeply in me sixty-one years ago, a story still resonating in me so profoundly…

reading this book at eight years old, i am Scout, my father is Atticus, my neighbor is Boo… i, too, live in a small southern backwater town in a family devoted to social justice and i feel the pure innocence and love of a mockingbird named Boo, a wounded bird traumatized much like the people’s journeys i have shared for four plus decades in the vocation that called me from the moment of meeting Boo and before and after… i have also loved mockingbirds from that moment and desire to live simply and wholeheartedly as innocence, as spirit, as mockingbird…

so, in this moment, i am mockingbird re-joy-singer visiting the divine inner child, the wise one who knows she’s here to sing, to sing her soul song of joy in a field of peace seeded with justice and guided by love…

may we all feel the pure innocence and love of  mockingbird in this moment and live as simply and wholeheartedly as freespirit, as mockingbird…

our task is to widen the circle of compassion embracing all that is in its beauty… i love this quotation from beloved humanitarian Einstein, and inside of myself i update the pronoun he to we… i could post this quote daily and it feels so appropriate now when we’re in the wintering cycle collectively even if we dwell in the southern hemisphere, that moment of eternity in the creative process when all goes fallow and we shelter in the deep dark earth to germinate lovingkindness and compassion…

let us radiate these frequencies in this moment beginning with ourselves by calming the mind/heart with deep cleansing belly breaths into our wisdom center which generates warm, gentle, loving feelings inside of our being saying:

may I be safe

may I be happy just as I am

may I be peaceful with whatever is happening

may I be healthy and strong

may I care for myself in this ever-changing world graciously, joyously…

now, move out spaciously into your immediate surroundings to include every living being within this circle saying:

may all beings in the air, on land, and in the water be safe, happy, healthy, and free from suffering…

as you feel your immediate surround fill with the power of loving kindness, move on, expanding the surround in concentric circles until you envelop the entire planet and are able to visualize Earth spinning within the vast, mysterious universe… continue expanding the sense of loving kindness filling the endless spaciousness of the universe saying:

may all living beings everywhere on all planes of existence, known and unknown, be filled with loving kindness, be peaceful, be free from suffering and be well…

thank you for being riotous roots in this cycle of dormancy germinating the widening of the circle of compassion and embracing all that is…

welcome, well come to day 18 of a season of peace, our day to travel  the path with heart cruising down the rainbow trail as dreamweavers, the ones who enter the gateway into infinity, the path with heart, the path of rainbow mystery… another beautiful day of gathering the quintessence as ambassadors of love and light with the sun still shining on the energy of  rapture on fifth day of miracles in the tibetan new year…

“Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary.
This question is one that only a very old man asks. Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long long paths, but I am not anywhere. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you,  a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it..”  ~ Don Juan ~

~

we are one heart

overflowing with love

inextricably connected

to the stars above

and the river below of rainbow flow

~

may we all travel the pathless path with heart – looking, looking breathlessly… seeing, being luminous rainbow energy…

welcome, well come to day 17 of a season of peace, our day to simply be, to simply be love as we travel the path with heart… another beautiful day of gathering the quintessence as ambassadors of love and light with the sun shining on the energy of  rapture always bubbling in the river below the river in the depths of our being…

yes, ambassadors of love, it all comes down to being love, period; for in the field beyond words it is simply the frequency we vibrate as a vast wave rolling through the cosmos… it’s also the pearl of the practice of the poetic peace pilgrimage which we are sauntering together, walking to the wholly land, making the archetypal shero journey to self...

here’s an old sherpa’s map, a guide for being love and coming home to the heart…

Smile (Start My Internal Love Engine) with every breath, with every step, in every moment, recommit to love…

Honor the flame within the center of your being by breathing in through our one heart fanning the flame with loops of thank you, thank you, thank you…

Embrace all that comes as hospitable host, befriend and embrace everything, all our relations…

Reverence and stand for truth wholeheartedly welcoming wounds and the wounded – the treasure chest of wisdom…

Open in ever widening spirals to all that is with a courage, a heart broken wide open for light to stream in…

Journey To

Spread for giveness from the stillpoint, love, peace and joy are here in this moment…

Emanate grace, the harmony of the cosmic wave re-membering everything is grace…

Love liberally, love liberates us all…

Flow as a cosmic wave rippling through the cosmos…

Happy Trails! on the path of lovingkindness… always wandering in wonder, always being love…

may we be filled with lovingkindness and widen the circle of compassion including all our relatives…

Dedicated to St Valentine, Patron Saint of Pilgrims

every moment is valentine’s, a celebration of love… every pilgrimage is journeying along the path with heart… every pilgrim is a poet on a journey deeper into the heart, a saunterer – a holy lander, spiraling ever more profoundly into the ground of being where…

every breath is a naming prayer

every step a walking meditation

bringing us home to our one cosmic heart, an ocean of devotion

~

dreams often inspire a flow of contemplation which inspire words and deeds… i’m in a classroom sharing with the openhearted children of the earth, sharing a heart mudra to the tune of “this little light of mine…” where you join your thumbs together for the base of the heart temple and your index fingers together for the spire which you place on your third eye to open the flow of divine light to shine through the heart as lovingkindness and compassion and then you move your hands, the heart temple of light, down to the belly, the center of being, the stillpoint, the watery womb of creation and with this movement, this simple action, our inner light, the eternal flame flows soundlessly throughout the all that is in ever widening waves, one with the tides of interbeing, the sheltering arms of the tree of life…

~

as we meet this moment of eternity fully, we are loving kindness and compassion, joy dancing in swirling and whirling circles of peace passing all understanding, one with divine flow…

may we be filled with loving kindness

may we be well

may we be peaceful and at ease

may we be free

welcome, welcome to day 15 of a season of peace, our day to celebrate self love as we travel the path with heart and another beautiful day of gathering the quintessence as ambassadors of love and light with snow continuing to fall creating a winter wonderland on the energy of  rapture present today…

i choose to be kind, gentle and patient with myself so i can be this and offer it to others…

i choose to be compassionate with myself so i i deepen and expand being this way…

i choose to love beginning with myself and rippling out to all relatives…

please join me in this movement of our choosing this path with heart setting us free to be one sea of love energy…yes, LALAs, love ambassadors, light ambassadors, it all comes down to being love, period; for in the field of the great beyond we real-eyes we belong to each other,that tthis moment, this day we choose love letting it begin with SELF (Stillness Essence Love Flow)…

the truth is: you are more wonderful than you can imagine and it is nothing short of a miracle that you were born at this time on this planet to do your work no matter what it is… we have lived long enough thinking ‘not enough’ is a way of being… today that ends as we commit to love the sometimes fragile and broken and sometimes confused and still glorious self that we are where we reinvent in this moment a story about who we are that you would love to tell and live… this is an invitation to unleash your own personal legend transforming the critic into the almighty muse…

thank you for joining in this global community sharing the medicine of  love…

Losar Tashi Delek! Happy Tibetan New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

may we all have an oxpicious turn around the sun in this year calling for endurance, anchoring in ourselves, our deep selves, our soul songs and concretizing these soul songs, our dreams into the world of harmony we can hear breathing when we let go of the outer static and tune into the anima mundi frequency…

in 1409, the great Lama Jey Tsong Khapa (1357–1419) convened a major celebration in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, for the first two weeks of the Tibetan Lunar New Year called the Great Miracle Prayer Festival referring to the two weeks of miracles and teachings said to have been performed by Shakyamuni Buddha, 2,000 years earlier in the city of Shravasti, India…

as the story goes, after years of being persecuted by rival teachers who repeatedly challenged him to contests of miracles, the Buddha finally accepted the challenge and proceeded to create a vision of a beautiful universe, consisting of jeweled trees, lotus ponds, and rainbows. The Buddha went on to teach the entire assembly about the nature of reality, that evil and ignorance were temporary aberrations, and that the power of goodness and wisdom was infinitely greater in the long run… and so it is… blessed be…